Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Week 17 ~ September 9, 2013

Another Transfer come and gone! only 9 more to go! Time seems to be flying by! it is pretty crazy how fast everything is going! Things here are going great I have one more transfer with my companion Sister Stratton. Heavenly Father is trying to teach me to love people from Utah. Its taking more than 6 weeks i guess haha but yeah we are having too much success together to separate us now. But our area has been blowing up and i am looking forward to staying to serve with these people another 6 weeks at least! So this past weekend we had stake conference and we were able to attend the priesthood session, the adult session, and the regular session a broadcast for that. Our stake president here is very dedicated and he asked the question why is Heavenly Father hastening his work so much now? and that has been my question for a while now and his answer for it has really stuck with me and has taken a lot of my thoughts. He said maybe he isnt just hastening it for other people but for ourselves now too. Satan is working so much harder to destroy our families and tear them apart and will do anything to get one person at a time in our families, so maybe he is sending more and more missionaries out to help strengthen us as individuals as well. He stressed that our testimonies of His gospel are not set in stone that they can slowly deteriorate. Pretty scary I know!!! But he said that praying to our Heavenly Father every single day and night will help us to keep our testimonies strong. Satan is doing everything he possibly can to drag us down. I hate the thought of that but its true. He is working twice as hard to get us! So another thing the people here were counseled to do as families here is to ALWAYS have family prayer, family home evening, and family council to help strengthen the bond of the kids and their parents. I love those three things and know that those three things can help our families stay stronger and more united to help protect us from the fiery darts of Satan. It literally breaks my heart to think of the people who are struggling to stay strong in their faith and are sinking into satan's grasp. Satan does have so much power but I can promise each of you that you can over come anything that satan throws at you especially with the help and the strength of our Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes its hard to read and pray everyday, there seems to be better things to do but not doing them is way too risky to fall into Satan. I hate Satan so much but I know it is part of Heavenly Fathers plan for us to show how strong we really are and how we can resist him. He is there to help us and won't ever leave us alone. Sooooo thats what I learned at stake conference. I loved it! I can honestly say that the hastening of the work of the Lord has saved me. I dont think I would have ever been able to come this close to my Heavenly Father and Savior if it weren't for coming out on my mission. I feel so blessed and think i am getting more out of this than anyone i have come in contact with! I beg all of you to continually do the things that will bring you closer to God. This world is too wicked to trust anything other than God and His gospel. I love all of you so much! and pray for you all continually.

Love Sister Tori Johnson

This is my family away from you guys! This is the Bastians the three little girls are all triplets and i love them so much they are the cutest things i love them! and the mom is so great!!